DeForest Kelley
| Date of death = | Place of birth = Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Characters = Leonard 'Bones' McCoy | image2 = Leonard McCoy, 2267.jpg }} :"He's really not dead... as long as we remember him." ::– DeForest Kelley as Dr. "Bones" McCoy ( ) Jackson DeForest Kelley was famous for his role as Leonard "Bones" McCoy, MD, on Star Trek: The Original Series. He went on to voice the character on The Animated Series and to play the character in the first six ''Star Trek'' movies. He also appeared as an aged Admiral McCoy in the Star Trek: The Next Generation pilot episode . Footage of Kelley from was used in the Deep Space Nine episode . Kelley had his makeup test and approval on Thursday and filmed his scenes for "Encounter at Farpoint" on Tuesday on Paramount Stage 9. Biography Kelley was born in Atlanta, Georgia. Having always wanted to be a doctor yet thwarted by the Great Depression, Kelley instead went into show business starting as a singer with the Lew Forbes Orchestra and in radio. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-deforest-kelley-1100057.html In 1937 Kelley went to Long Beach, California, to stay with his uncle for two weeks. That two weeks became a year. Even after returning to Georgia, he decided that California was where he wanted to be. While living in California, Kelley joined a local theater group. There he met Carolyn Dowling, whom he would marry in 1945. During the Second World War, Kelley served as a bomber crew member. Towards the end of the war, a talent scout for Paramount Pictures saw Kelley in a Navy training film which led to a screen test and a contract, starring in his first motion picture . Later that same year, Kelley co-starred with such legendary entertainers as and in the musical comedy Variety Girl. Future TOS guest actor Richard Webb made an appearance as himself in this film. Kelley went on to co-star with fellow TOS performers Jeff Corey and Whit Bissell as prison escapees in the 1948 thriller Canon City. He appeared in smaller, uncredited roles in several films throughout the 1950s, most notably The Men (1950), House of Bamboo (1955, with Biff Elliot) and The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956, with John Crawford and Kenneth Tobey). He did, however, have a larger, supporting role in the 1955 film noir Illegal, co-starring future Star Trek alumni Robert Ellenstein and Lawrence Dobkin. Throughout the late 1950s and the 1960s, he starred or appeared primarily in Westerns. He played in the acclaimed 1957 Western Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, in which fellow Trek alumni Whit Bissell and Kenneth Tobey also appeared. Interestingly enough, Kelley had earlier played on a 1955 episode of You Are There entitled "The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral". He, of course, revisited the O.K. Corral one more time on Star Trek in the 1968 episode, . Kelley then appeared in such classic Westerns as Sturges' The Law and Jake Wade (1958), Warlock (1959, with Whit Bissell, Paul Comi, Frank Gorshin, Roy Jenson, and Gary Lockwood) and Town Tamer (1965, with Richard Webb). He also co-starred in a few non-Westerns during this time, including Where Love Has Gone (1964, with Whit Bissell and Anthony Caruso) and the 1965 comedy Marriage on the Rocks, starring crooners Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. During this time, he made guest appearances on a number of television series, including Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, Death Valley Days, The Untouchables, and The Fugitive (in an episode with Jason Wingreen). In a 1962 episode of Bonanza, Kelley played a doctor for the first time. That episode also starred another man who would play a Trek doctor, John Hoyt. In 1963, Kelley appeared in an episode of The Virginian with Brian Keith. This episode, entitled "Duel at Shiloh", was edited together with another episode to produce a TV special called The Bull of the West, which aired in 1971. Later in 1963, Kelley guest-starred in a second episode of The Virginian, "Man of Violence", this time with future Star Trek co-star Leonard Nimoy, as well as Trek semi-regular Jim Goodwin. That show marked the second time Kelley played a doctor. In 1964, Kelley was on the top of writer-producer Gene Roddenberry's list of actors for the role of the ship's doctor in , the first Star Trek pilot. However, director Robert Butler suggested veteran actor John Hoyt for the role. (Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, p 37-38) A year later, Kelley made a small appearance in the pilot episode of Roddenberry's series Police Story, which co-starred Steve Ihnat, Malachi Throne, and Grace Lee Whitney. The series was not sold and the pilot was finally aired on television in September, 1967 (when Star Trek s second season was in production). This Police Story, however, is not to be confused with a later NBC series of the same name, on which Kelley guest-starred in 1973. The same year, Roddenberry wanted Kelley to replace Hoyt for the second Trek pilot, . However, he was again outruled by the director (James Goldstone), who wanted Paul Fix for the role. Finally, in 1966, Roddenberry could cast Kelley as the new chief surgeon, Leonard McCoy for the regular series, starting with . (Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, p 75, 152) He appeared in very few movies after being cast as Dr. McCoy; his only non-''Trek'' feature film following the cancellation of Star Trek was the 1972 horror/science fiction B-movie Night of the Lepus, co-starring yet another Trek doctor, Paul Fix, and a group of giant, mutant rabbits. Kelley did, however, continue working in television, guest-starring on shows like Ironside and Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law (in an episode with the aforementioned Paul Fix). After Star Trek was resurrected as a motion picture franchise with the release of in , Kelley took on few other roles. A few months prior to making his appearance in "Encounter at Farpoint", Kelley expressed skepticism concerning Star Trek: The Next Generation. "It's a mystery to me why they are doing it," he remarked. "I assume Paramount thinks they can hold onto the ''Star Trek phenomena. There's no doubt we can't go on forever, so they're trying a way to keep it going. But there's only one Star Trek, and that's ours." (Starlog'' issue 117, p. 9) A few years later he hosted the short documentary To Boldly Go, a making-of featurette of The Next Generation. Kelley's only non-''Trek'' role throughout the 1990s (and his final role before his death) was the voice of Viking I in the direct-to-video animated movie The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars. Kelley retired from acting in the mid 1990s, and succumbed to stomach cancer on June 11, 1999, the first of the original Trek cast to pass on. He was survived by Carolyn Dowling, his wife of nearly 54 years, who passed away in October 2004. Several costumes and costume pieces worn by Kelley were sold off in the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay, including his neck scarf from . Additional appearances File:Unrealmccoy.jpg|M-113 creature (in the form of McCoy) File:Leonard McCoy (mirror).jpg|Leonard McCoy (mirror) File:Vendorian posing as McCoy.jpg|A Vendorian (Posing as Leonard McCoy) See also *''DeForest Kelley: A Harvest of Memories'' *''From Sawdust to Stardust'' *''''Star Trek: 25th Anniversary'' *''Star Trek: Judgment Rites'' External links * * * - pictures, sound clips and trivia bg:ДеФорест Кели de:DeForest Kelley es:DeForest Kelley fr:DeForest Kelley it:DeForest Kelley nl:DeForest Kelley pl:DeForest Kelley Category:TOS performers Category:TAS performers Category:Movies performers Category:TNG performers Category:DS9 performers Category:Star Trek reference authors